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This paragraph contains a brief description of the product ...
What is a Professional Learning Community (PLC)?
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The term
professional learning community
describes a collegial group of administrators and school staff who are
united in their commitment to student learning. They share a vision, work
and learn collaboratively, visit and review other classrooms, and
participate in data-driven decision making (Hord, 1997b). The benefits to the staff and
students include a reduced isolation of teachers, better informed and
committed teachers, and academic gains for students. Hord (1997b) notes, "As
an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen
as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school
change and improvement." North
Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL, 2004)
www.ncrel.org
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Teamwork is about passion and
commitment to solve a common problem. Working as a PLC the synergy and
support of fellow team members make the work more effective, efficient and
focused.
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How might a department work
together using the cycle of inquiry as they continually ask the Big Ideas of a
PLC?
- Weekly collaboration could look like this:
- Week 1: Norms and review pacing
guides and related information.
- Week 2: Discuss teaching
strategies for upcoming lessons. Decide on an upcoming essential standard
that will be taught. Review classroom level assessment information.
Identify a formative assessment.
- Week 3: Discuss teaching of
essential standard. Summarize and review formative assessment results.
What will you do for students who did not learn/understand and students who did
learn/understand?
- Week 4: How did interventions
go (for both proficient and non-proficient students)? Discuss upcoming
teaching standards, pacing and strategies?
- Week 5: Decide on an upcoming
essential standard that will be taught. Identify a formative assessment.
- Week 6: Discuss teaching of
essential standard. Summarize and review formative assessment results.
What will you do for students who did not understand and students who did
understand?
- Week 7: Results of
interventions. Discuss review and teaching strategies for benchmarks.
Implications for pacing guides and targeted instruction or intervention.
- Week 8: Review results of
benchmark assessments. Did they learn what was expected? If not, now
what? What could have been done differently during the course of
instruction? Document changes for next year.
- This may be somewhat different
for those subject areas that do not have pacing guides and common assessments.
Those subject areas will also need to incorporate time to identify essential
standards, unpack standards, identify theories of action, and develop
assessments.
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A Learning
Community Approach 
